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SDCC Redux

Let’s face it, as cool as San Diego Comic Con is for us geeks, there’s always such an overload of information that some of the most exciting news tends to get lost in the hype around costumes and toys.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with ogling over delightfully gorgeous woman dressed up as Slave Leia, or any other assortment of Anime characters that love to expose their bum cheeks and cleavage on a regular basis, but there comes a time to be serious about geekitude and get excited about what lies ahead in the world of TV, film and the comic book world.

So, for your pleasure, I curated some of the coolest news to come from Comic Con here. (Yes, I know this isn’t everyone’s taste – but I hedged my bets in favour of things that would have mass appeal. Sorry for not being hipster enough.)

MARVEL!

Marvel continued its winning tradition by making us all quiver at the lineup of movies that will be coming our way over the next three years.

Apart from sequels we’re all expecting anyway: Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, we finally got confirmation that we can expect an Ant Man movie (and possibly his inclusion in The Avengers sequel) and… oh my sack… a movie based on Guardians of the Galaxy!

For the uneducated, Guardians of the Galaxy is a series of comics that centre on a fighting force made up of supernatural beings, aliens, warriors, a racoon with a gun and a giant tree. The comics are loaded with pure awesome, and, while the movie might be a huge gamble for Marvel, it’s great to see some non-mainstream characters getting some airtime.

On the animation front, we can expect new season of Ultimate Spider-Man, and a new show called Hulk: Agents of SMASH.

WALKING DEAD!

Season 3 of The Walking Dead got a four-minute promo at Comic-Con, taking us into the famous prison story arch, and a glimpse of some key new characters form the comic books – including The Governor and Michonne:

ELYSIUM!

The long-awaited next movie from South African District 9 genius Neill Blomkamp, finally got teased good and proper at Comic-Con, with some footage (which I have yet to find online anywhere) and a gritty pic of Matt Damon wielding a typically Blomkamp-esque weapon. Also cast are Sharlto Copley and Jodie Foster.

We have a plot synopsis:

“In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy “Coordinators,” people who can afford bio-genetic engineering, who live on Elysium, a pristine man-made space station built by the Armadyne Corporation; and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a hard government ofﬁcial, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky ex-con Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.”

And this video:

Wow.

FIREFLY!

What geeky event would be complete without anything to do with Firefly? Here’s the full 10th anniversary panel (it’s long, but worth it, and you will cry) **52 minutes**:

FRINGE!

Season 5’s trailer premiered at SDCC and, wow, it looks really good. Here in SA, we haven’t been blessed with Season 4 yet, so a lot of what you see in this trailer might not make a whole lot of sense. But if you managed to pirate the previous season or get it off iTunes… well… all I can say is that it’s a pity that Season 5 will be the last. Although, John Noble (Walter) did tease that there are possibilities of a Fringe movie…

DISNEY!

Disney took the wraps off two big projects that are going to be coming to screens soon – The Lone Ranger (starring Johnny Depp) and Oz The Great and Powerful (with James Franco):

And we were also given a subtle reminder that the next big CGI animated movie form Disney, called Wreck-It Ralph is going to be pretty awesome too.

Here’s the full Disney Panel **42 minutes**:

MORE TRAILERS!

Spartacus: War of the Damned

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Season 2

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

Dredd

Wash

Wash is our resident uber-geek. He sleeps on a pile of comics, speaks fluent Klingon and spends his weekends unleashing all manner of Hell on the battlefields of his PC. If it’s related to gaming, comics, sci-fi or any other form of geekitude… chances are Wash has his sticky paws all over it.